Remote Communications between Patients and General Practitioners: Do Patients Choose the Most Effective Communication...

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Telemedicine
• Patient-Physician Communication

Background:

• Global increase in remote patient-practitioner communication, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Need to assess the impact of remote healthcare on overall service quality.
• Evaluation of different remote communication modalities is crucial for quality assurance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate remote healthcare quality by comparing four patient-to-physician communication modes in Israel.
• To analyze patient perceptions and expert assessments of remote healthcare quality.
• To investigate the relationship between the usage extent and perceived quality of different remote communication modes.

Main Methods:

• Criteria-based analysis by healthcare quality experts.
• Subjective patient-perception questionnaire assessing healthcare quality and mode usage.
• Comparative analysis of four distinct remote patient-to-physician communication methods.

Main Results:

• Usage extent of remote communication modes was inversely related to their rated quality.
• Patient choice of remote communication mode did not align with maximizing service quality.
• Remote services presented challenges in patients conveying clinical issues and understanding treatment plans.

Conclusions:

• The assumption that patients select remote communication for optimal quality is challenged.
• Remote healthcare modalities can create barriers to effective clinical information exchange.
• Policymakers should address these findings to enhance remote communication services for better healthcare quality.